6. Halo
First off and foremost I know that Halo has a rich amount of back story that's shown off in the various novels, comics and animated short films that have been spun off of it. I know that, and I don't count it because A) Anything storywise that's outside of the game itself just demonstrates how little story is in the actual game and B) Hollywood has enough trouble adapting something from one source, adding multiple sources into the mix is essentially like putting a kick me sign on your movies back. Then there's the bigger problem, and it's the character whose name is almost synonymous with the series. Master Chief... who is one of the most boring and uninspiring protagonists in the history of the medium. There's a reason that John Smith a.k.a. Spartan 117 is such a boring character. He's part of that oddball genre of blank slate characters that aren't too defined because it makes it easier for the player to imprint themselves onto the character. He has the personality of a blank page of Patriotic Stationary so that players can go through the game feeling like it's happening to them, instead of to some other guy that they're controlling. While some people dig that approach, I don't. Unless the game gives me the option to create my character from the ground up, I don't want my role handed to me with details missing. Give me a fully fleshed out character or let me make one, but don't go for a halfway split that ends up being the worst of both worlds. As a videogame character, Master Chief works. Put him into a movie and ask an audience to care about him, without adding enough newly generated details that he's no longer the same guy from the X-Box games and you're kinda screwed. There are a lot of exciting stories that can be told with the other characters and people of the Halo universe, but it only goes to show that the original game that started the whole ball of wax rolling is not the foundation for a good movie.